Standardized shipping pallets are in great demand in the manufacturing and transportation industries, as more and more products are shipped and stored in bulk via ground or air transportation. One common link between virtually all forms of transportation and storage for such articles, is the need at some point to move the articles by fork lift. The development of the shipping pallet, with means providing for the securing of cargo or goods thereto and for lifting the pallet using the tines of a fork lift, has greatly facilitated the shipment and storage of such articles and goods.
Most such shipping pallets are constructed of wood. However, relatively low quality wood is typically used, and such pallets are rapidly rough cut and assembled to save labor costs. Thus, they are prone to rapid deterioration and breakage, and frequent replacement is required. Moreover, the rough nature of the material often results in splinters and other minor injuries to persons handling the pallets, occasionally resulting in infections due to the often less than ideal sanitary conditions of the typical environment of such pallets. The wood material does not lend itself to the formation of mating components without relatively complex construction (and the time required for such), thus resulting in the need to scrap the entire pallet if a single portion is damaged to any great extent. While wood may be a renewable resource, ideally the pallet material itself would be recyclable, rather than being burned or thrown away in a land fill, as is often the case with wood.
As a result, other materials such as fiberboard and plastic, have been used to construct pallets. Fiberboard may be recyclable, but its wood like nature, requiring cutting and assembly, again precludes economical construction of a pallet of mating components to allow a single component to be scrapped in the event of damage; such fiberboard pallets typically are short lived, subject to moisture damage, and must be scrapped in their entirety if a single portion is damaged to any great extent.
Thus, plastic has been used as a response to these problems. Earlier plastic pallets may respond to the need for durability and recyclability, but must still be scrapped if significant damage occurs to a single portion thereof. Plastic pallets constructed of multiple components are of some assistance in this regard, but the problem then arises of differently configured pallet portions, with only the properly configured portions capable of being assembled with one another. Thus, at least some pallet sections of each configuration must be kept on hand, and the possibility exists of the wrong component being supplied for repair, and the resulting time loss waiting for the error to be corrected.
The need arises for pallets formed of cast or molded plastic materials which pallets are assembled from two identical interlocking, mating sections. Thus, damage to a single section may be easily cured by removing the damaged section and replacing it with any other section of any other like pallet, since all sections are identical. The interlocking of the two portions of the present pallet ensures that they will not slip relative to one another when secured together, thus reducing shear stresses on the bolts securing the two halves together and also reducing the likelihood of the bolts being loosened due to movement between the two halves. The material is less likely to cause injury to persons handling it than other materials, and is also generally more durable than other materials used for pallet construction. If damage occurs to such a pallet, the damaged component may be recycled for further use.